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England held by Honduras

Date published: Monday 24th August 2015 1:19

Play was suspended midway through the first half at the Sun Life Stadium because of storms and a mandatory 30-minute suspension was called for safety reasons.
In a feisty encounter Brayan Beckeles was sent off in the second half for Honduras, but England could not find a way through and had to settle for a draw before the real action starts in Brazil next week against Italy.
England started brightly and Danny Welbeck went close to scoring after just four minutes when he fired in a shot from 25 yards which Honduras goalkeeper Noel Valladares fumbled before gathering at the second attempt
Roy Hodgson’s side continued to call the tune in the opening exchanges and Wayne Rooney tried his luck on 14 minutes with a free-kick from the edge of the box which Valladares again spilled.
England really should have broken the deadlock on 22 minutes after a flowing move involving Rooney, Welbeck and Daniel Sturridge.
Rooney fed the ball in towards Welbeck who cleverly stepped over the pass to allow Sturridge in on goal, but with only Valladares to beat the Liverpool man dragged his effort wide of the target.
Minutes later the game was halted as referee Ricardo Salazar took the players off the field because of an electrical storm and following a lengthy break the game finally resumed after the storm had passed.
Shortly after the restart Jerry Bengston had a sight of goal for Honduras when he capitalised on a mistake by Adam Lallana, but he could only poke his shot straight at Joe Hart.
Things threatened to boil over just past the half hour when Emilio Izaguirre was lucky to escape a red card after tripping up Sturridge and then blasting the ball into the England striker from close range while he was lying on the ground.
Honduras had a sight of goal ten minutes before the break when Jordan Henderson and Adam Lallana combined to bring down Roger Espinoza and Marvin Chavez drove the resulting free-kick just over the crossbar.
England went close to scoring on 41 minutes when Lallana worked some space on the edge of the box and saw his deflected shot fall wide of the far post.
Hodgson made two changes at the break with Ross Barkley and Jack Wilshere coming on for Rooney and Steven Gerrard, and the two substitutes almost had an immediate impact as Barkley played a neat one-two with Wilshere on the edge of the box before the Everton man curled his effort just wide of the target.
Sturridge had a sight of goal on 54 minutes when he latched onto a pass from Barkley inside the box, but his audacious chip landed well wide of the target.
England then went close to making the breakthrough just before the hour mark when the ball broke to Welbeck inside the box, but the Manchester United forward saw his stabbed shot kept out by the legs of Valladares.
Honduras were reduced to ten men on 65 minutes when right-back Beckeles was sent off for a second bookable offence after catching Leighton Baines in the head with a raised arm.
Sturridge really should have broken the deadlock 16 minutes from time when Glen Johnson picked him out unmarked inside the six-yard box with a cross from the right, but the striker wastefully headed his effort over the crossbar.
England threw on Rickie Lambert for Welbeck for the final 10 minutes as they went in search of a winner.
In the final minute Lallana almost got on the end of a pass from substitute Frank Lampard inside the box, but Honduras goalkeeper Valladares was quickly off his line to rob the ball off the feet of the Southampton man as England were forced to settle for their second draw from their two games in Miami.